Contemporary Composition SeminarFall 2012

Instructor: Prof. SIGMANThursday 14:00-16:00

Lecture VII

0. Administrata

• Assignment II: review • Assignment III (Cardew, Kagel, Scelsi, and

Sciarrino): to be posted 내일 ; due Friday ( 금 ), 10/26 VIA EMAIL

• Midterm Exam: 11 월 01 일• Review: 10 월 25 일• ?’s?

Italian Aristocratic Mystics: Scelsi + Sciarrino

0. Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613)

• Prince of Venosa• Experiments with tuning and harmony• Mannerism ( 마내리즘 )• Composer of madrigrals• Influential upon both Scelsi and Sciarrino

Example: Gesualdo, “Io parto”

I. Giacinto Scelsi: The Third Dimension

A. Biography

• (1905-1988) • Aristocratic ( 귀족의 ) background • Studied with Schönberg in Vienna• 1930’s: Neoclassical period; promoted work of Shostakovich,

Hindemith, Stravinsky in Italy• Traveled extensively (alone) in Egypt,India, Nepal…• Met John Cage, Feldman, and other American

experimentalists in Rome • Reclusive ( 은둔하는 ) • Wore fur coats and hats in summer

B. Venice: East Meets West

• In the 1950s, Scelsi developed an interest in Eastern mysticism ( 신비주의 )

• He attributed this interest to living in Venice (베니스 ), an important crossroads of the Roman and Byzantine empires

• His music reflects a Western interest in form and material development/rigour with an Eastern (and particularly Byzantine) sense of temporality and aesthetic

Byzantine chant example

• Microtonal inflection• Focus upon single pitch centres/drones • Slow evolution• Narrow register • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr4mAIibx

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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ7LGWbxumI&feature=related

C. The “Third Dimension” of Sound

• Scelsi used the term “sphericity of sound” to describe his approach to music since ca. 1950

• Sound as 3D object, viewed from different angles

• Third dimension = continuum between pitch, timbre, rhythm, and harmony

Example: String Quartet no. 4 (1964)

• Microstructure of single tones• Unique string scordatura for each instrument• Notation: 1 staff/string• Local process: harmony (quarter-tone clouds) -> vibrato->

bisbigliando (timbral trills) -> trill/tremolo -> steady tone• Global process: slowly unfolding arc, rising in register• Middle/upper register emphasis; no “bass” • “Virtual fundamental” • Very slow and very fast music at the same time

D. Music and Ritual: Okanagon (1968)

• Several versions• For tam-tam, harp, and contrabass• Contrabass = scordatura• Harp = microtonal tuning• Harp and tam-tam played with resonator

(tuning key) • No exact repetition • Ensemble as single instrument

E. Improvisation and Transcription: Aitsi and String Quartet No. 5

1. Aitsi (1974)

• For amplified piano• Distortion = transients = ++ microtonal pitch content• Formal proportions/climaxes: structured according to

Fibonacci series and golden mean• Durational notation (in seconds)• Attack-resonance exploration• Distilled to its essence: short and concentrated work

2. String Quartet no. 5 (1984)

• Transcription of Aitsi• Microtonal re-mapping

II. Salvatore Sciarrino

A. Bio

• (b. 1947, Palermo)• Lived in Rome, Milan, and Umbria • Assistant to Luigi Nono on La lontananza

nostalgica utopica futura

B. Microvariation of a Sound-Structure

Example: L’orologio di Bergson (1999)

• For solo flute• Part of his Opera per flauto (works for flute)• Highly structured• Shifting sense of time• Role of silence/negative space• Exposed flute mechanism: harmonics, whistle tones, key-

noise• Microvariation of basic, unstable elements over time• Intense listening: threshold of audibility

C. Ensemble Works I: Introduzione all’oscuro (1981)

• Literally “Introduction to the Dark (Side)” • For ensemble of 12 instruments• Threshold of silence • Unstable sonorities: no exact repetition• Iambic/heart-beat element

D. Sciarrino and Gesualdo: Luci mie traditrici (1996-98)

• Opera in 2 acts • 3 characters• Plot: Gesualdo murders his wife and her lover• 17th century libretto (Il tradimento per l’onore)• Transcriptions/re-interpretations of Gesualdo

madrigals • Baroque ornamentation in vocal parts

E.The Mechanical World: L’Arceologia del Telefono (2005)

• For 13 instruments• “archeology of the telephone” • Traces history of telephone in sound: from

Alexander Graham Bell to dial phones, to touch-tone phones to the mobile phone